Brock Wendel Yates was born in Lockport, New York on October 21, 1933. He received a bachelor's degree in history from Hobart College in 1955 and served in the Navy. He was an automotive journalist who wrote for Car and Driver magazine. In the 1970's, he founded of the Cannonball Baker Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, more commonly known as the Cannonball Run. He wrote the script for the 1981 movie The Cannonball Run. He wrote several books during his lifetime including Sunday Driver: The Writer Meets the Road - at 175 MPH; Enzo Ferrari: The Man, the Cars, the Races, the Machine; and Cannonball! World's Greatest Outlaw Road Race. He also wrote Sport and Racing Cars with his father Raymond F. Yates. He and Jerry Belson wrote the script for the movie Smokey and the Bandit II. He died from complications of Alzheimer's disease on October 5, 2016 at the age of 82.
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